PICTURE: Mmobuosi with former presidents Joyce Banda and Bakili Muluzi during a previous visit to Malawi. MARIA BOSCO The government has revoked a diplomatic passport issued to a Nigerian businessman whose controversial granting of citizenship in 2023 was exposed by the Platform for Investigative Journalism (PIJ). The development also comes days after PIJ further revealed that Malawi was in hot water with the U.S. government after it emerged that the Nigerian businessman Dozy Mmobuosi—now convicted of fraud in the U.S.—was issued a Malawian diplomatic passport under dubious circumstances. On Saturday, major Malawian publications, Weekend Nation and Malawi News, revealed Lilongwe had moved to withdraw its controversial citizenship and passport to Mmbousi. The two papers reported that the Minister of Homeland Security, Ezekiel Ching'oma, had revoked the Malawian Diplomatic passport which was issued to a Nigerian man, and that all stakeholders, including Mmobuosi have been informed of the development. "The Ministry of Homeland Security and all borders have been informed of the government's decision to revoke and withdraw his Malawian passport," Ching’oma is quoted as saying. The development comes after Mmobuosi, who is the CEO of Tingo Group, was convicted of fraud in the US and was ordered to pay fines of over $250 million. He promised to build 1,000 houses for Cyclone Freddy victims in Phalombe under the Tigwirane Manja Housing Project, an initiative that was led at the time by former presidents Joyce Banda and Bakili Muluzi. The revocation of the passport for Mmobuosi comes barely a month after the New York Times revealed that Malawi was among the yellow-listed countries by President Trump of America for weak controls over passport issuance, which gives access to non-deserving individuals to obtain access to Malawian passport. Malawi was given 60 days to tighten its security on the passports, otherwise the country will be among the red-listed countries, whose penalty is a total ban on travel in any capacity to the US by countries from the red list. As previously reported by PIJ, Malawi was placed on a “yellow list” of countries with weak passport security measures, raising the spectre of possible travel restrictions. According to a report in The New York Times, Malawi’s inclusion on the list stems from concerns over its ability to share sufficient traveller information, lax passport security, and citizenship laws that may enable individuals from banned countries to obtain Malawian documentation. Washington has given Lilongwe a 60-day deadline to address these concerns or risk being moved to the “orange list,” which would impose travel restrictions, or worse, the “red list,” which could result in a complete travel ban to the U.S. READ MORE: ANOTHER PASSPORT SCANDAL ABOUT THE AUTHOR:MALAWI PASSPORT FLAGGED
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